Cyfrinachau
by Miranda Tam
Summary: The Doctor and the Master and Ianto and Jack, but there's only three people. AU, ignores CoE and Miracle Day. Set after Exit Wounds and WoRS. Slash and Jack being Jack.
1. Chapter 1

_(onetwothreefour)_

_eternity spiraling downwards ever reaching always searching thinking running_

_drumming_

_(onetwothreefour)_

_touching his mind-heart-soul-being_

_(onetwothreefour)_

_a van at a circus a nestene energy unit jo grant and the Doctor_

_(onetwothreefour)_

_san francisco a snake an amercian the eye of harmony_

_(onetwothreefour)_

_the war running fleeing gallifrey gone_

_yana_

_(__onetwothreefour__)_

_a year the year that never was saint martha the freak and the Doctor_

_(one two three four__)_

_a gunshot lucy_

_REGENERATE_

_no._

_(__**one two three four**__)_

_resurrection the end of time itself the gate of immortality gallifrey his fault rassilons fault all their fault – _

[red grass silver leaves orange sky]

[theta]

– _white point star the master race onetwothreefour all their fault_

_(__**ONE TWO THREE FOUR**__)_

[you could be beautiful he says as the earth begins to burn]

[get out of the way]

_one and two and three and four neverending never stopping always spiraling down into eternity_

_(onetwothreefour)_

_backups safeguards always have a bolthole_

_blue boxes broken chameleon circuits chameleon arches the fob watch_

_one two three four_

Ianto Jones woke up.


	2. Chapter 2

"Ianto? Ianto. Ianto!" Ianto Jones jolted into awareness.

Gwen was looking at him sympathetically. "Are you okay? You were zoning out."

He shook his head. "I'm fine. Just… fine."

She touched his shoulder lightly. "If you ever need anyone to talk to…"

He looked away.

"We're all trying to cope." She said quietly, her welsh-accented voice dampened by the emptiness of the Hub. "Get some rest."

Ianto exhaled, closing his eyes as Gwen left through the cog-wheel door. Resting, in this case, was his problem. Every time he let himself relax, breathe – even now, amidst all of the chaos in his life – something was setting him on edge. Something, just on the tip of his tongue. He had felt this before, but ever since Jack's absence then return, it had been growing more persistent, and now, with Tosh and Owen –

He shut off that line of thought. Not here, not now, have to keep on a face for the team. Not that it's much of a team anymore.

Almost without him realizing, his hand slipped into his pocket, drawing out a small sketchbook, while his other hand reached for a pencil. A few dozen strokes had down Owen's face, then Tosh's, but he couldn't stop. Designs, more and more complex, spiraling every which way. A boy's face [_adric, his mind whispered, castrovalva and the web_] which he didn't recognize, a Grecian pillar, an embellished figure eight. A hood, almost a dementor, a decayed face peeking out, the longest scarf anyone could imagine, a stick of celery. Martha Jones, her hair unstraightened after a year, dressed in clothes to suit a rebellion. Interlocking circles, a fob watch, a giant rocked blasting off as an insect raised her gun –

"Ianto?"

The pencil swerved, crossing the insect-girl's face and marring the picture. Ianto looked up. "Sir."

"I didn't know that you drew," the ex-Time Agent remarked, trying to sneak a peek at the book. "And I thought that we were over the whole 'sir' thing?"

Ianto shrugged. "I just sketch. Nothing interesting," he added, deftly maneuvering his almost-full book away from Jack's field of view.

"No such thing as an uninteresting sketch," Jack remarked, grinning. "How long have you been drawing?"

His face closed up, even more than it had already. "Since before I joined Torchwood."

Jack, sensing a difficult topic, backed off. "Okay. Everyone has their hobbies. Like I knew this cat-girl once who…" Jack faded to the back of Ianto's mind as he began a long, winding anectdote involving the aforementioned cat-girl, gelato, and an unexpected allergy to human… parts.

Meanwhile, he allowed his mind to wander for the third time that day. This time, he focused on the images he had drawn. He had attempted this before, and each time it gave him a headache, but he wanted – needed – to know where they came from, why he thought of these images.

The next thing he knew, he was lying on the floor, disoriented and confused. "What…" he trailed off, seeing Jack's worried face.

"You tripped," his lover explained. "Are you okay? How many fingers am I holding up? Any hallucinations?"

"Yes, three, and no." He slowly pushed himself to a sitting position and groaned, both because of the headache and because the contents of his pockets were all over the floor. It wasn't much, his notebook, a pencil, a pen, a few coins, and an old fob watch, but it would be annoying to pick up. Especially the coins.

Jack was silent, staring at the watch.

"Jack…?" Ianto said uncertainly.

He shook his head, focusing his attention on Ianto. "Sorry. Just… memories. Where did you get that watch? I don't think I've seen it before."

Ianto frowned. "I've had it forever. It used to belong to my dad. It doesn't open, it's just a fob watch. Why?"

If anything, Jack looked even more worried, though he was hiding it well. "No reason. Just curious. Forget it."

He raised one eyebrow, questioning. He could tell when Jack wasn't telling the whole truth.

Jack sighed. "Just… an old legend. Fob watches with mysterious designs on them – ghost stories. It's nothing," he said again insistently. "Are you sure you're okay? You hit your head pretty heard."

Ianto rolled his eyes and stood up. "I'm fine… ooh." The world spun under his feet for a moment, and it was Jack's turn to raise an incredulous eyebrow. "Maybe I should head home for the night."

He pretended not to notice Jack palming the watch.


	3. Chapter 3

_Acess UNIT files_

_Search: watch_

_Search Results: 1,337_

_Search: fob watch_

_Results: 3_

_Show Results_

_ John Smith (1913)_

_ Harold Saxon (2008.5)_

_ Professor Yana (3,000,000,000,000)*_

_*time travel – future subject to change_

_Open Result 1: John Smith (1913)_

_ In 1913, the Doctor (see Doctor) was being pursued by a group of extraterrestrials known as the Family of Blood (see Animavore). To hide, the Doctor rewrote his biology using an alien (see Time Lord) device known as a Chameleon Arch (see Chameleon Arch). Using this device, the Doctor hid…_

_Display File: Chameleon Arch_

_ The Chameleon Arch is a device developed and used by Time Lords (see Time Lord) to rewrite their biology and disguise themselves as human. This device will pass all psychological and physiological tests as if the subject had been human their whole lifespan. The Chameleon Arch inserts false memories as a background to further blend in, but upon examination the memories will have no backing or details. The resulting human will not remember their previous existence until the Chameleon Arch is reopened. The physical aspect of the Chameleon Arch appears as a broken pocketwatch with spiraling designs inscribed on the cover, which is in reality the name of the hidden Time Lord in their native Gallifreyan. It is unclear whether personalities change completely or are expressed from different angles when a Time Lord has undergone this process. UNIT has requested that any and all instances of possible Chameleon Arches be reported in for further investigation. For examples, see John Smith (1913), Harold Saxon (2008.5), and Professor Yana (3,000,000,000,000)._

Ianto stared at the screen that wasn't making sense. Point 1, he couldn't be a Time Lord because Point B, he had early childhood memories and family. But Point 3, he had a fob watch with apparently Gallifreyan writing and Point 4, Time Lords didn't appear to follow any age pattern when regenerating, so he could have regenerated into a child, then used the Chameleon Arch. But all of this was rendered moot by Point 5, _this was all insane_.

Well, insane for Torchwood.

Relatively.

Ish.

Even in an organization where 24-hour alien pregnancies from bites and repeated resurrections of multiple employees were common, discovering that you might be a centuries-old alien from an extinct civilization was unusual, to say the least.

As was Jack's reaction.

**Page Break!**

_Rrrring. Rrrring. "Hello, this is the Doctor! I'm not able to pick up the phone right now – No, River, stop that! – sorry. Anyway, I'll do my best to call back – quiet, Pond, of course I'll call back. As long as it isn't a telemarketer. Telemarketers are evil. Yes, more evil than Cybermen. Probably not quite as evil as Daleks, though… Anyway. I'll call back. Probably. Eventually. Maybe."_

This Doctor's voice is unfamiliar, but the tone and the rambling can't be mistaken. "Hi, Doctor. This is Jack. I had some questions about something. It's a little complicated – call back when you can, or maybe come. It's sort of important." Jack put the phone in the receiver and groaned, his head in his hands. "Now, all we need to do is wait a few decades, and he should show up," he muttered to himself. "Now what?"

"Now, apparently, we wait," Ianto spoke up from the doorway.

Jack jumped spinning towards his lover. "You were listening?"

"Torchwood One teaches you bad habits," Ianto said in lieu of a confession. "Here." He handed Jack a stack of papers.

"What's this?" Jack glanced at the top paper, which was displaying a printed picture of an old fob watch emblazoned with Gallifreyan swirls. "Ianto…"

"Apparently, Time Lord perception filters have a way of breaking once the subject is made aware of the object." Ianto met Jack's worried stare levelly. "I've done some research, but we have no way of knowing which Time Lord the fob watch belonged to, aside from either waiting for your Doctor or opening it, which would, based on current evidence, erase my personality. I believe that we should hold of on that option."

"I… yes. There's not much we can do without him." Jack swallowed and cautiously extended a hand to Ianto. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, sir. Just… fine." Ianto turned and quickly exited Jack's office.

Jack sighed, rubbing his forehead, and looked down at the next note he had on his desk.

_Amy and Rory Pond, Leadworth, England._

_-Professor River Song, Archaeologist_


	4. Chapter 4

_Ding-dong._

"_Rory! Can you get that?"_

"_Yeah."_

Jack examined the house as he waited for Rory to come get the door. It was an amazing house, with a large backyard and a shed. That looked like it had been run into by something, then repaired. Multiple times. The garden was also slightly overrun, as if the house's occupants were absent for long periods of time and had tried halfheartedly to trim back the oncoming jungle. Jack had heard reports that the Ponds had traveled with the Doctor, but he had also heard reports that Elizabeth I had married him, and how crackpot theory can you get? But Jack was starting to doubt this particular rumor's falsehood – judging from her voice alone, Amelia Pond was someone who the Doctor would not hesitate to abscond with.

The Tardis-blue door was also a large clue.

Said door appeared to be in the process of being opened, and Jack was faced by –

"Centurion?"

"Captain?"

"… I think you'd better come in."

"Rory? Who is it?" Amy peeked her head downstairs after she heard the lack of camera flashes that gave the paparazzi away. Being a model was amazing, but came with drawbacks. Namely, press.

"It's… a little complicated…" Her husband called back up.

Good enough for her. "As long as it's not another bloody fan–" Amy paused, the stranger coming into view. "Hel-lo. And who might you be?"

Rory groaned. "Great. Just… great. Jack, if you sleep with my wife, I'm killing you."

"Don't look so glum. I don't sleep with married couples." The stranger – Jack – replied. "I mean, unless you want a three–"

"And now I know why the Doctor never properly introduced us," Rory interrupted in the middle of Jack's sentence. "Speaking of which. Not to sound rude, but… well… why are you here? And how do you know where I live? Actually, not that last one. I don't want to know."

"Firstly, introductions." Jack grinned. "Captain Jack Harkness, at your service. You'd be Amy, then?"

"Have you been gossiping about me?" She asked, raising an eyebrow and looking at Rory.

"Only the best, I assure you." Jack grinned as Rory groaned and hid his face in his hands. "Is it true, the thing with the–"

"ANYWAYS," Rory said loudly. "Jack. Here. Why?"

All the laughter drained from the room as Jack's face grew grim. "I need to talk to the Doctor."

Amy's eyes narrowed. "And you think we can contact him because…"

"You're his latest companions in this timeframe," Jack explained, glancing around the room. "He's not answering his phone, so you'd be the best people to find him."

Rory glanced at Amy.

Amy stared at Jack for a few moments, contemplating. "The Doctor is dead," she said finally, unshed tears in her eyes. "Lake Silencio, April twenty-second, 2011."

"And he didn't regenerate? Am I supposed to believe that?" Jack scoffed.

"He got shot."

"He's gotten shot before."

"Twice. In the chest. Once, then… again before he could… regenerate." She turned to walk up the stairs, wiping away her tears. "You can leave now."

"I got a letter."

Amy froze halfway up the stairs, then turned around. "A letter?"

"Pointing me to you. It just had your names, your address, and a signature." Jack met Amy's eyes calmly. "I need to contact the Doctor."

Amy stared back, eyes red from crying but steady. "Who was the note from?"

"River Song."

Amy exchanged a glance with Rory. "We can't contact him directly," Rory said after a tense moment. "But we can get River, who can get him. Probably. But… well, not to put this harshly, but we're not quite sure if we can trust you. Why do you need him?"

"It's… a little complicated," Jack said quietly, trying to evade the question.

"Try us." Amy retorted.

He sighed. "All right. This is going to be a long story. It starts in Cardiff – yes, I know, nothing ever happens there. False. Now it really sort of starts when I was traveling with the Doctor, but to save time I'll just skip to the part where I saw the Tardis sitting right in front of the Millenium Center and grabbed on just as he was dematerializing…"

Amy and Rory listened in fascination and shock and a little bit of horror as Jack recounted the tale of the Year that Never Was.

"So… what went wrong?" Rory asked after Jack had finished his tale. "_Has_ something gone wrong?"

Jack shrugged. "I… don't know if it's something gone wrong. That's why I need the Doctor."

"What happened?" Amy pressed. "Specifically."

"One of my… coworkers. I found a fob watch that he said was his." Jack sighed. "I don't know if he's a good Time Lord or a bad Time lord or not a Time Lord at all, but I need to be absolutely sure which. Because from what I've heard, the chameleon arch creates a new person, and when the watch is opened that person dies."

"And so you can't know if it's a fob watch without potentially killing your coworker, but if it is a fob watch everything will either go horribly right or horribly wrong." Rory finished for Jack. "That… sounds like something the Doctor would be incredibly conflicted about."

Jack grimaced. "Yeah, but I can't think of anyone else to ask."

Amy nodded decisively. "We'll call River. She'll know what to do, or at the very least have an opinion. Or possibly… what was that phrase? Ah, yes… _dance_ with you."

"Sounds good to–"

"That's the Doctor's _wife_. And our _daughter_. And – you know what, why am I even arguing anymore?" Rory moaned.  
>"Not a clue."<p> 


End file.
